


Daughter of Dragons

by sinistercinnamon



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (bless that tag), (note: burning houses are Highly Dangerous), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Angst and Humor, Bisexual Zuko (Avatar), F/F, Female Zuko (Avatar), Lesbian Mai (Avatar), Long-Haired Zuko (Avatar), Maiko is endgame because yay lesbians, Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, Trans Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Toph get along like a house on fire, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), Zuko is basically the 'fight me' kaomoji, but a different take than usual, get in losers we're kicking misogyny in the face, if one more guy tells Zuko to smile the Earth Kingdom WILL be set on fire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27702371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinistercinnamon/pseuds/sinistercinnamon
Summary: Instead of trying to capture the Avatar at the North Pole, Zuko steps in to save the Moon Spirit, falling into the pond in the fight. Tui, seeing the child's dearest secret wish, grants it. Princess Zuko doesn't know how to explain this to anyone.Or: A trans!Zuko take, but with ~magical transformation~.
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 164
Kudos: 647





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Because this is a topic that makes a lot of people twitchy, I figure I'd better lay out what you're getting here so you know what you are (& aren't) getting. Strap in for an author's note that's almost as long as the fic.
> 
> 1\. The premise of this fic is that Zuko has kinda imagined being a girl, but has no concept of 'being trans' & never realised this was an option until a spirit makes an offer, then has to figure things out from there. Dude is gonna need a bit of adjustment at first. If you can't handle a fic where characters aren't perfect with pronouns right off the bat, then this probably ain't the fic for you, because Zuko is gonna misgender herself a bunch at first.
> 
> 2\. I'm doing my best to keep everyone in character. Sokka might be adding a few drops of Respect Women Juice to his morning tea after Suki hit him with a fan a few times, but he ain't suddenly a beacon of feminism. Katara would do her best to be understanding, but she ain't perfect. Air Nomad society is supposed to be enlightened but Aang is a 12 year old boy who thought 'I'm confused' meant 'Please kiss me'. Azula will go with whatever gets her what she wants. And random side characters who met Zuko before the switch or are aware that a switch has happened are gonna at least bat an eyelid. None of these people are gonna be popping off with perfect speeches filled with 21st century social justice rhetoric & terminology. On the flipside, they ain't gonna spout stuff from certain Twitter accounts either. (Except for maybe Ozai, but I feel like he is his own warning.)
> 
> 3\. Mostly though everyone kinda rolls with it. Spirits doing weird stuff to people is basically a regular day in this world & Zuko seems fine, so whatever.
> 
> 4\. I have decided that Zuko never shaved her head so that she can have long hair. This is not about thinking women can't have a partially or entirely shaved head (I have half my head shaved & it looks kickass, thanks). I just like long haired Zuko okay?? Also I had a version of the 'phoenix tail chopping' scene planned out in my head & liked how it was turning out.
> 
> 5\. Maiko is endgame! This ain't gonna be a fic where the gender switcheroo is to nix any same gender relationships. All hail the drama goth couple.
> 
> 6\. Most of the relationships won't kick in for a while yet. Like Zuko won't encounter the Gaang till like chapter 6 or 7, & Mai shows up later still.
> 
> Got it? Great!

Zuko carefully locked the door to his cabin. He’d made it clear he didn’t want to be disturbed, and even if he hadn’t said so, he’d screamed and raged so much today that no sane person would seek out his company willingly. But he couldn't risk anyone finding out his secret.

He knew he probably shouldn’t shout at the crew this much.

But he needed to complete this mission so he could return home and it had been almost three years now! They still had no leads (just a lot of useless knowledge about the long dead Air Nomads and memories of conducting funeral rites for skeletons that had been _too small to be soldiers_ that he was trying to forget), and Father would run out of patience eventually. And this crew was so incompetent and the ship was always breaking down and he just felt… wrong, all the time.

What did it matter if the crew hated him? (Even if it did feel so lonely, sitting in his quarters all alone on Music Nights, listening to the sound of his uncle singing along with the crew’s attempts to carry a tune on the battered instruments they had.)

His uncle, however, could not accurately be described as a sane person, and could potentially barge in without knocking to offer calming tea or nonsensical proverbs to his dear nephew (why did that make Zuko want to scream?).

Zuko had almost been caught once, but the poorly-maintained door had creaked and jammed long enough that he’d been able to grab a blanket and throw it over himself in time, quickly curling up against the wall and pretending to be sulking. It had felt stupid, but it was better than Uncle finding out what he’d been doing.

Checking to ensure that the door was definitely locked, he moved over to the chest where he kept scrolls and relics relevant to his hunt for the Avatar (the chest containing contents that were the most boring and least useful to anyone else on the ship and least likely to be looked through) and began carefully removing each one and laying it aside (none of this stuff had been helpful in finding the Avatar, but that didn’t mean it shouldn’t be treated with respect), until he reached a bundle at the very bottom, removing it and placing it in front of the mirror.

Once again he checked the door. Nothing on this ship worked properly and it would be just his luck if the lock stopped working. Still locked up tight. And listening closely, he could hear the distant sounds of what could be referred to as music if you were feeling particularly generous.

Carefully he unwrapped the bundle and pulled out his treasures, each item looted from some home or other in various ports they’d stopped at. (Stupid, really, as he wasn’t going to be wearing any of this in public, so it wasn’t as if it mattered whether some woman recognised a particular combination of items and accused him of thievery.)

Anything that looked like it might fit, that he liked the look of.

The dress didn’t quite fit right. He’d obtained one that had been made for a stocky girl, cut in a loose, forgiving style, but his lack of breasts were an issue. As always, he tried his best to drape the fabric in order to compensate for this (initial attempts to stuff the fabric with something had just looked ridiculous). The belt helped a little, giving him the illusion of a nipped-in waist.

No shoes, though; he hasn’t been able to find any in his size yet, and his boots did not go with the dress, so he went barefoot. (It wasn’t as if he’d be wandering around outside anyway.)

He let his hair down, brushed it out, and then restyled it, fastening it up with a jewelled hairpin that was the only thing actually obtained honestly; people might wonder why an angry teenager in Fire Nation armour who had clearly come from that military ship docked in port was buying women’s clothing in a size and cut that just so happened to fit him. But a hairpin? That was the sort of thing a young man would buy as a gift to send to a sweetheart back home, right?

Even if Uncle had caught him smuggling it back onto the ship, he could have claimed he bought it to give to Mai once he’d found the Avatar and returned home (he wouldn’t know it wasn’t to her tastes at all).

He hadn’t bothered acquiring many cosmetics – even actual theatrical makeup couldn’t do much about his face – but he had some lip paint and kohl (putting it on his scarred eye too was probably stupid, but he did it anyway).

The overall effect was… okay. If he looked at the mirror through his bad eye, he could pretend he passed well enough. He wasn’t sure why that mattered – he had no intention of anyone ever seeing him and finding out about this.

He wasn’t sure why he did this. It was just… nice… Pretending to be a girl. He couldn’t say why; it just was.

Picking up one of the scrolls, he settled down to read.


	2. Moon

Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. He’d come here with one goal in mind: Capture the Avatar. And the Avatar had been _right in front of him_ , meditating right there in the middle of the oasis…

But…

Zhao planned on killing the Moon Spirit. How such a thing could be possible, Zuko had no idea, mortal form or not, but the man seemed worryingly convinced of the possibility.

The very idea was horrifying. Yes, it would end Waterbending. But it would devastate the Fire Nation, an island chain that was extremely dependent on boats and the fishing industry. And the very navy that Zhao was a part of.

He didn’t know how he could stop the murder of a spirit. But spirit business was basically the whole _point_ of the Avatar. So maybe it was better to make sure the plot to kill the moon itself had been foiled before capturing him. It was simple prioritising.

And something about this place calmed him.

So for once in his life, Zuko had held back, staying hidden and watching, waiting in the hope that an opportunity to capture his prey would present itself after the danger of destruction of the Koh-damned _moon_ was over.

And then Zhao had been there with soldiers (including his uncle, he was relieved to see), and the Avatar was _still meditating_ , and the Water Tribe kids and their new white-haired friend (and Uncle) were all that stood in the way of a group of trained soldiers, and Zhao got past them easily and reached into the small pool and pulled out a fish and everything went dark…

And Zuko had done possibly the most stupid thing he’d done since standing up in that War Council, throwing himself at Zhao, not even thinking clearly enough to attempt to Firebend or pull out his knife. He managed to push Zhao back, grabbing the fish off him and throwing it back in the water, but then Zhao quickly regained his footing, and he pushed back, and Zuko was standing on the edge of the pool on slippery rocks…

And Zuko fell…

⁂

…into a vast emptiness. The pond had seemed barely big enough for those two fish, but somehow he was floating in a vast body of water.

There was no sign of the surface above.

It should be terrifying, but Zuko felt… calm.

He floated in the water, somehow not drowning, and able to breathe.

"Little dragon." The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. He looked around but saw nothing but emptiness, lit by a soft glow with no source. "Daughter of Agni."

"But- But I'm not a daughter of anything!" he called out, before considering the wisdom of that. But no water poured down his throat.

Surprise, tinged with amusement, swirled in the water around him.

"Ah. But you want to be. So much."

Zuko laughed. "Wanting the impossible has never gotten me anywhere. Even wanting something possible, that thing is never within reach."

"But what if it was?"

"What if what was?"

"Possible."

"What do you mean?"

Laughter. "You saved me, daughter of fire. I can grant you your wish. You could look like your true self.”

"Just like that? No conditions?" Uncle had always warned that spirits could be tricksy, and deals were not to be made lightly.

"As I said, little one. You saved me. There should be no conditions on a gift of thanks."

Zuko looked down. At his (her?) body. _Everything that I wanted. That I didn't know how much I wanted...._

She looked up, even though it didn't seem to matter much, in a vast blackness, talking to someone he could not see, whose voice came from everywhere.

"Yes," she said.

⁂

If Uncle had a plan for getting them away from the Northern Water Tribe, it must have hinged on the presence of the fleet. But a large number of the ships had been sunk (it seemed the Avatar had _finally_ decided to wake up), and the rest had retreated to regroup and make repairs.

(There were so many dead…

Was Zuko’s crew among them?)

Now they drifted along on a raft as Zuko tried to figure out how to explain things to Uncle, who had so far failed to notice. The warm, bulky clothing and multiple layers hid the changes, and he – no, _she_ – hadn’t been able to bring himsel- _her_ self to speak yet, trying to process what had just happened, quietly allowing Uncle to drag her out of the water as he babbled in relief and hovered in concern.

And then they’d been shooed out by an elderly Waterbender wearing an expression that clearly said ‘Don’t let the sun go down on you here’. And Zuko was just too distracted and stunned to object to anything.

The new body felt… comfortable, but different. Wider hips made walking feel strange, even though they weren’t _that_ much wider, it was enough to throw him – no, damnit, her (why was this so hard?) – off, having been so used to the way the old body (and wasn’t that a weird concept…?) moved through years of sword and Firebending training. Walking wasn’t made any easier by the boots being too big now. And stopping their escape to cinch the belt tighter around the slimmer waist wasn’t an option, so the formerly perfectly-fitted trousers now hung off those hips.

And the clothing was now uncomfortably tight around the chest (though on the plus side that served to provide some support and _oh Agni I’ll need to figure out underwear!_ ).

“I’m surprised, Prince Zuko,” He failed to notice Zuko flinching at the title. “Surprised that you are not at the moment trying to capture the Avatar, even after almost drowning.”

_‘Because I’m not exactly a Prince anymore and I am trying to process this and find a way to explain it.’?_

_‘Because the Moon Spirit turned me into a girl, but I think I always wanted to be one and I’m actually fine with this.’?_

What came out was, “I’m tired.”

(It’s not like that wasn’t true.)

Her – yes, her, damnit – voice was a little higher, a little softer, but still retained its raspy quality, and Uncle didn’t seem to notice any difference. (Perhaps there wasn’t – how did your own voice sound to others?) Or if he did notice, probably he assumed it was from the cold air or apparent-near-drowning.

“Then you should rest. A man needs his rest.”

A man. Yeah. Fuck, how to explain this?

“Uncle, I. Um. I’m not a man.“

Uncle smiled down from where he’d been standing gazing up at the sky. “Ah, don’t speak like that, nephew. Yes, you are young, but I do not think it is to early to s-”

“No, really, Uncle. And I’m not your nephew.”

This was met with predictable confusion. Zuko had never been good at explaining things.

“Um, when I fell into the pool, the Moon Spirit gave me a new body.” Sitting up straight, so Uncle could see better, she opened the jacket and prodded at the mounds that had not been there when they’d set out on this escapade.

“Oh,” was Uncle’s only response.

Zuko frowned. She’d poured her heart out and was met with an ‘Oh’.

“’Oh’? Really? Is that all you can come out with?”

Uncle made a placating gesture. “Don’t worry, as soon as we find land, we’ll find a way to reverse this. You’ll be back to normal in no ti-”

“I don’t want to reverse it!” The shout caused a flock of birds on an ice floe some distance away to take flight in panic. Thank Agni for that. If Tui had bestowed a female body but with a shrill voice along with it, that would have been a real cat-monkey’s paw of a wish. Zuko had worked damn hard on developing a good shouting voice.

It was unfair to yell. Uncle hadn’t known; Zuko had been so careful. And usually when a spirit changed you into something, it was a spot of mischief at best and a curse at worst – either way, an unwanted occurrence.

“I’ve thought about it for a while, okay, Uncle. Sort of? I just didn’t really understand what I was thinking. But the spirit knew, and she did ask and I said yes and…” Aware that she was babbling now, she gave up and simply waved a hand at herself.

Uncle said nothing for a moment, simply looking at her thoughtfully.

“Hmm. Very well, Niece.”

Zuko blinked in surprise. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“You’re not… ashamed, or anything?” It wasn’t like she _wanted_ Uncle to be ashamed or disgusted, but he – damnit, she – was so used to family saying one thing only to reveal a hidden trap in their words, and it wasn’t like the trap was ever something he, _she_ could avoid, so sometimes it was best to stumble ahead and spring it, get it over with. She hung her head, ready for the expected rejection.

“Of course not, dearest Niece. If you are happy, then that is good enough for me.” Zuko looked up in time to see a grin spread across his face that looked somehow ominous. “And besides, this is the perfect excuse to go shopping!”

Zuko groaned. It wasn’t as if a new wardrobe wasn’t necessary. (It would have been necessary even without any physical changes, since their clothes and possessions had been destroyed in the explosion and all they had was what they wore and carried.)

But… _Uncle_. And _shopping_.

This was going to be embarrassing, wasn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uncle: I support you.  
> Zuko: Oh thank-  
> Uncle: Let's go shopping!  
> Zuko: THE SPIRIT LIED TO ME THERE IS A CATCH & I JUST FOUND IT


	3. Sister

It was indeed embarrassing.

Yes, there was an interesting novelty in being able to openly rifle through racks of clothing, try stuff on, buy things she liked, with the intention of wearing those things in public, instead of stealing something meant only to be worn behind a locked door.

But Uncle was extremely enthusiastic, exhorting her to try on completely unsuitable clothing for their current situation.

As tempting as it was to purchase some of the richer, more elaborate and delicate pieces, practicality (and their limited finances – this was the last of their money until they managed to appeal to Father for more, and she did _not_ look forward to sending that message) won out.

There was no way they’d get another ship, which meant they’d be travelling on foot from now on (or on a mount of some kind if they were lucky). She needed clothing that was practical, sturdy and suitable for travelling and infrequent washing. And it needed to be stuff she could fight in.

“Buying that will be a waste of money,” she snapped as Uncle held up _yet another_ impractical dress, this one with a skirt so slim that the wearer would have to shuffle as if their legs were hobbled together. “Because I will set it on fire immediately.”

Did the Earth Kingdom not expect its women to be able to fight?

“I simply want to indulge my dear niece. Surely you can humour an old man?”

“Uncle, we should only buy what we can carry, and I am not going to be invited to any parties in the near future!”

He meant well, she supposed. He just really loved any excuse to shop, and it wasn’t as if Azula had ever let him treat her like a doll.

(And she knew he was trying to distract her from the fact that it was _the anniversary_. Three years now. Three years of being burned and banished. And still failing in his – her – mission, even when the perfect opportunity had presented itself. The Avatar had been right there. _I could have been home by now_.)

(But then the Moon Spirit wouldn’t have done this. Was it worth passing up the chance to go home? To have Father’s love?)

Agni at least spared her the indignity of having to purchase underwear with him, as the assistant in that shop took one look at their prospective customer’s face and insisted the man wait outside.

By the end of the excursion she’d amassed a small but respectable collection of clothing and had only shouted at Uncle three times. Mostly stuff she would have worn with a male body – simple robes and trousers, a practical pair of boots, though she did indulge herself in buying a dress with a flared enough skirt to allow for a decent range of movement. Uncle had managed to purchase a selection of dresses and skirts and impractical nonsense (though at least there was nothing too ridiculous – the hideous hobble gown was nowhere to be seen) without being noticed. Despite her earlier warning she refrained from setting them on fire, as it was too late now and it’s possible they could be sold or traded somewhere down the road.

She informed him that he would be the one carrying them on their travels. He simply smiled and agreed.

⁂

Thinking of Azula must have summoned her, because she showed up the very next day, waiting for them in their cabin.

“Hello, brother. Uncle.”

“Sister.” Zuko wasn’t sure if that was a correction or an acknowledgement or both. “What are you doing here?”

She opened her mouth to say something – maybe to explain why she was here, but more likely to say something cutting about her sibling’s lack of manners – then cocked her head, looking mildly puzzled.

(For Azula, this was the equivalent of fainting from shock.)

“Brother, what are you wearing?” Her eyes briefly flicked to the scar, probably to confirm that she was talking to the right person.

“Sister,” she repeated, folding her arms defensively, and this time it was definitely a correction. “And I’m wearing a dress.”

Azula blinked a few times, before getting up to circle around her sibling like an eel-shark around its prey. “What happened to you?”

“Spirits.” She didn’t feel like offering any further information; too much potential for it to be used against him – her, dammit! (Azula’s presence had thrown her thoughts into disarray) Though maybe Azula had changed? It _had_ been three years.

She tilted her head and looked Zuko up and down, looking amused. “Well, I suppose your time away has utterly failed to make a man of you.”

Then she shrugged in a choreographed display of nonchalance, before smiling.

“Well, _sister_. I’ve come with a message from home. Father’s changed his mind. Family is suddenly very important to him. He’s heard rumours of plans to overthrow him – treacherous plots. Family are the only ones you can really trust.” Her smile looked almost gentle. “Father regrets your banishment. He wants you home.”

_He wants you home._

The words Zuko had longed to hear for three years.

 _Home_.

_(Azula always lies.)_

She turned away to look out the window, staring at the blossoms without really seeing them. She must be dreaming. Right after her greatest failure, when the odds seemed more stacked against her than ever. On the very anniversary…

Maybe that was it? Perhaps Father was also sentimental around this time of year. (Though Father had never seemed the sentimental type…)

Azula, sick of waiting for a response, snapped, “Did you hear me? You should be happy! Excited. Grateful. I just gave you great news.”

She had. And Zuko should be happy. _She should be_. But this was just so unexpected, so unbelievable.

_(Azula always lies.)_

“I’m sure your sister just needs a moment to-”

“Don’t interrupt, Uncle!” She approached Zuko and stood next to her at the window. “I still haven’t heard my thank you. I am not a messenger. I didn’t have to come all this way.”

Zuko finally got her voice to work. “Father… regrets? He… wants me back?”

“I can see you need time to take this in. I’ll come to call on you tomorrow. Good evening.”

And then she just left. Zuko remained staring out the window, still so busy trying to process this amazing news that she forgot to return the goodbye.

_She was finally going home._

⁂

She was not going home.

_Azula always lies._

And as with all her best lies, this one had contained a grain of truth. Father did want them home. But in chains.

And she had been so desperate for Father’s love, she had fallen for it, and nearly brought Uncle down with her. He’d tried to warn her that this seemed too good to be true, but Zuko had lashed out, refusing to listen. And yet he’d still be willing to come into a situation he knew was dangerous, a situation they were only in because Zuko was an idiot.

And the only reason they had escaped was because the Captain was a moron who’d tried to count his pig-chickens before they’d hatched.

And now she and Uncle knelt next to a stream, a knife in her hand, raised and ready to sever her phoenix plume…

No, fuck that.

Why should she have to cut her damn hair? She hadn’t betrayed her nation, her people. The attack on the Northern Water tribe had been Zhao’s stupid idea, that Father had endorsed. Why should she be held responsible for its failure? Yes, she’d failed to capture the Avatar, but she’d come much closer than anyone else ever had, and he was still out there; all she had to do was find him, and she had extensive experience tracking the Avatar by now.

The Earth Kingdom was vast, but she wasn’t giving up. Azula and Father believed she’d failed? Well, she’d show them.

Anyway. They were now fugitives and she had a… _noticeable_ face. Being able to brush hair over it to hide the scar was just practical. Especially as Azula had addressed her as ‘Brother’ once her ruse had been discovered and there was no longer any reason for her to mince words, and Zuko had not explained her situation beyond ‘Spirits’. She wouldn’t be surprised if the scribe who was told to put together a Wanted posted for ‘Prince’ Zuko failed to include a few details.

Instead of cutting her hair, she turned the knife slightly and cut through the ribbon holding it, shaking her head to loosen her now free hair.

(A stupid gesture, she thought. She’d only want to tie it back up again to keep it out of the way once she found a style that was less… Fire Nation-y. But that was a problem for later, and she was entitled to a stupid-but-dramatic gesture under the circumstances.)

She handed the knife to her uncle, who made no comment on her choice, but didn’t seem to share her thoughts on who had betrayed who, cutting through his topknot and tossing it into the stream.

She hoped nobody on their travels saw the random tufts of short strands on the back of his head and understood what that meant.

⁂

It was only as they were preparing to make camp, after watching Uncle’s topknot drift away, that Zuko realised they had fewer bags. She had dropped hers in the confusion and been too busy chasing after Azula and then escaping to think about picking it up.

Damn.

It was annoying to lose vital supplies, especially as they had spent the last of their money on them and their chances of getting more funds from the Firelord had gone up in smoke. But Zuko was thankful that at least Uncle had had the presence of mind to grab one as they made their escape.

She was somewhat _less_ thankful when she opened it and realised it was the bag containing the ridiculous clothing he’d insisted on buying for her, and the more practical items she’d purchased were in the missing bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zuko's like, I feel pretty secure in myself & have a tiny boost to my self-confidence so no thanks I am not cutting my hair


	4. Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title does not refer to what you think it does. Unless you're aware that canonically Zuko & Iroh were on that raft for 3 weeks, & therefore Zuko has had a female body for roughly a month now. In which case it refers to _exactly_ what you think it does.
> 
> Possibly counts at mild body horror? (At least from Zuko's perspective.)

Zuko groaned as she awoke with the dawn and into the feeling like she’d been punched in the stomach.

The cramping had started yesterday and she’d naively hoped it’d be gone by the time she awoke, even though it was probably due to the lack of food so the only way that got fixed by morning was if some food dropped from the sky during the night. Only a few days of whatever they could scavenge from the woods had left her stomach feeling like someone had tied a knot in it.

Well, it wasn’t too bad, just really damned uncomfortable. They’d spotted smoke that looked to be from either chimneys or small cookfires, so there was some sort of settlement on the road ahead. They could find someone there who needed some (hopefully not-too-menial) work doing and ask for food in exchange.

Or just steal it.

She frowned, aware of something on her thighs. Lifting up her blanket, she looked down.

And screamed.

⁂

Despite Uncle’s assurances that this was a normal thing that happened to all women, he eventually gave in to his niece’s distress and took her to the healing hut in the nearby town.

The healer – a woman who’d introduced herself as Song – seemed surprised this hadn’t happened before, so Zuko gave an extremely edited explanation of her Moon Spirit encounter (obviously minus the whole ‘I’d invaded the Northern Water Tribe’s sacred spirit oasis in an attempt to capture the Avatar in order to ensure victory for the Fire Nation’ bits).

Song raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment about the strangeness of that. Everyone knew of someone whose cousin’s best friend’s girlfriend’s brother had picked a flower from a sacred grove, or sought out shelter in a cave that local people often heard mysterious noises from, or simply been nearby when a vengeful or mischievous spirit targeted the nearest person in a fit of pique. Usually the curses wore off eventually, or could be removed with the right offerings, and there wasn’t much otherwise that could be done. Certainly not by a village healer.

“Ah, that would explain why you’re so shocked. Poor thing. Hopefully it’ll wear off before the next time.”

“I don’t actually want to go ba- Wait. _Next time_?”

“Yes. It happens every month. You didn’t know?”

She stared at the healer in horror. No. She hadn’t known. This wasn’t the sort of thing people discussed in front of a prince.

Possibly it might have eventually cropped up in a ‘You’re a teenager now so here are some things you should know’ talk from a palace healer (Mother had been long gone by the time puberty had even begun to hit and she couldn’t imagine having this discussion with Father), but she’d been banished before that could happen, and spent three years on a ship with an all-male crew plucked from the dregs of the navy, where she’d picked up a version of what could delicately be called The Facts of Life that was deeply emotionally scarring. She thought Uncle might have tried to explain things at some point, but it had been all proverbs about _finding the perfect blend of tea_ and something about bird-bees and blooming flowers, so it was unclear.

So no. She absolutely had not known. “ _Every_ month?”

Song nodded, looking like she was torn between amusement and sympathy. “Until you’re too old to bear children.”

“And there’s no way to stop it?”

“Not unless you plan on being permanently pregnant,” she responded, shrugging. Then sympathy for her patient must have won out, because she added, “Look, there are things you can do, okay?”

She nodded eagerly.

“You’ll need some padding in your underwear to absorb the blood. The folded up bandages you’re using will do for right now, but I can get you something better, okay?”

“Okay…”

“You mentioned cramps? How bad are they? Any pain?”

“Not too bad, and I wouldn’t say painful. Though, uh, my pain threshold might be kind of high?”

Song looked like she was about to question that. Then her eyes flicked to the scar and she visibly rethought her next words.

“Right. Well, soothing tea can help with those.”

Huh, so Uncle’s usual offer of calming tea hadn’t been entirely useless in this case then.

“Heat helps too. Holding something warm against your stomach. It’s a bit more trouble, but if you can warm up a-”

“Oh, heat shouldn’t be a problem,” she blurted out, not thinking.

“What do you mean?”

Shit. “Uh, never mind…”

Song gave her a strange look, but continued. “Okay, well, apart from that, the usual boring advice I give to everyone. Get plenty of exercise, drink plenty of water, eat healthily… You get the idea.” She shrugged and gave a mischievous grin. “Or just curl up in bed for a few days each month and punch anyone who tries to drag you out of your blanket cocoon.”

She returned the grin. “I think the last option is my favourite.”

“That’s every woman’s favourite. Well, not that you’re actually a woman, but-”

“Yes, I am!” Zuko folded her arms and glared.

“But you said a spirit-”

“It asked first! And I said yes!” Angrily she got to her feet and began pulling her clothing back into place. “I chose this, alright?”

Feeling a hand on her arm, she turned to see Song looking at her, a contrite expression on her face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed like that. It’s just that most people you hear getting transformed into something else aren’t too happy about it. And it doesn’t seem like something most men would be happy with.”

Zuko snorted. “Most men are idiots.”

She laughed. “Ain’t that the truth, sister.”

Zuko twitched at the use of the word ‘sister’ in a half-joking tone, and Song must have noticed, as she looked apologetic. “Come on, let me make it up to you. You’re too thin and my mother always makes way too much food. And I can give you some supplies.”

She wanted to decline, but she had no idea where she’d obtain the necessary items otherwise, and she _was_ pretty hungry.

“Okay.”

⁂

Zuko sat out on the porch, unable to sit and watch Uncle putting away his fifth helping. And not wanting to continue that uncomfortable conversation about absent fathers.

She felt a little better, so at least some of the discomfort _had_ been hunger, but it hadn’t entirely gone away.

Thinking about Song’s advice, Zuko heated her hand and rubbed it over her abdomen in slow circles. Aah, that was actually better.

Song’s voice came from behind her. “Can I join you?”

She sat down, taking Zuko’s silence as assent. (It wasn’t as if she could object – it was her house, after all, though she wished Song hadn’t sat on her left side.)

“I know what you’ve been through. We’ve all been through it. The Fire Nation has hurt you.”

She reached out to touch her scar, and without thinking, Zuko grabbed her hand before it could reach her face.

She realised her mistake immediately and let go, but it was too late.

Her hand hadn’t been hot enough to burn, but it was still much hotter than her usual body temperature, and Firebenders ran hotter than average to start with. There was no way of passing it off as natural warmth, and as a healer who had just examined her, Song would know damn well that it wasn’t a feverish heat.

She stared in shock, eyes wide, and Zuko closed her eyes, waiting for the horrified cry of “Ashmaker!” and demands for them to leave.

What she heard instead was, “I’m sorry.”

Confused, she opened her eyes to see Song looking at her, sadly.

“The Fire Nation has harmed so many people.” She pulled up her skirt to reveal a leg marked with old burn scars. “They’ve hurt me, too.”

Zuko could only look at her leg in shock. Song had said her village had been raided when she was a small child. Why would the Fire Nation harm a child?

It must have been an accident.

_(Mine wasn’t an accident.)_

Her thoughts were interrupted by Song pressing a small bundle into her hands. “Here. These should help you manage.”

Zuko muttered a thank you, still trying to rationalise the sight of the burns.

“You know, you’re really lucky your uncle is looking after you. Most kids in your situation aren’t so fortunate.”

Her situation?

_She thinks you’re a war child._

When Zuko had first heard whispers of the concept of war children, she’d dismissed it as vile slander against the noble and honourable soldiers of the Fire Nation. She still couldn’t believe such tales.

But if they’d burn children, what else would they do?

(It was an accident. It _must_ have been.)

Song had seen the scar, seen her Firebending, noted her skintone and eye colour, added all that in with the fact that she was accompanied by an uncle and obviously uncomfortable talking about her father… and put together a story.

It certainly wasn’t one that painted her father in a good light, but she wasn’t going to reveal the truth here.

⁂

As they were leaving, Zuko caught sight of a stable, housing an ostrich-horse, and a horrible temptation entered her mind…

But…

Song had helped her without judgement. Had offered her supplies to survive this horror she was condemned to each month. Had invited them into her home and shared food. Had guessed her patient was a Firebender and said nothing.

Zuko walked past the ostrich-horse without stopping. “Come on, Uncle. We need to find a good place to make camp for the night.”


	5. Charm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Zuko attempts to flirt in this chapter. It's as painful as you would imagine.

Zuko sat on the straw mat next to Uncle, fiddling with the fabric of her dress in an effort to ignore him holding his hat out to passersby and begging without the slightest trace of shame.

It was one of the better ones he’d bought her. A deep reddish colour that was just enough on the right side of brown to pass for Earth Kingdom, while making her feel as if she was wearing her own nation’s colours again (especially with the mustardy yellow strips at the cuffs and hem). If she looked at it with her good eye closed, she could pretend it was something she might wear at home if she ever got to go back.

Like the dresses Mother wore.

She’d had to cut a slit down the side though, because if you can’t kick someone in the face from a standing position, then what was the point?

Another plea of, “Spare coins for weary travellers?” followed by the pathetic jingling of a few coins landing in Uncle’s hat pulled her out of her reverie, and she couldn’t restrain herself from expressing her frustration.

(It was amazing she’d managed to hold it in this long.)

“This is humiliating!” she snapped. “We’re royalty. These people should be giving us whatever we want!”

Uncle merely smiled benignly. “They will – if you ask nicely. Perhaps you should try using some feminine charm?”

_“Feminine charm?!”_

Thankfully Uncle spotted a woman passing, wearing a nice pink dress that she couldn’t possibly fight in, and went back to his begging. Which was just as well as Zuko was _this_ close to breathing actual fire and giving them away as Firebenders.

“Spare some change for a hungry old man?”

The woman looked at him as if he was a lost squirrel-puppy and gave him a coin with an, “Aww!”

Zuko wanted to throw up from the sheer humiliation.

“The coin is appreciated, but not as much as your smile!”

…Okay, now she just wanted to throw up in disgust.

A new voice cut in. “Well, hey there, old man. What a pretty granddaughter you have.”

Her skin crawled, and she wished she’d grabbed a hat to hide her scar instead of loosening her hair and brushing it over the left side, or found some male clothing from somewhere to disguise herself as a boy. She fisted her hands in her skirt in an attempt to stop herself from accidentally Firebending at him, as Uncle attempted to coax money out of the man for his ‘granddaughter’s’ supposed beauty.

As if she were some sort of exhibit.

“How about I give you…” he paused, and Zuko assumed he was pulling money out of somewhere. “…this gold piece, if you let me show her a good time.”

She looked up, an angry retort ready on her lips…

The man had a set of dao. Her hands itched to grab them and put them through some sword drills.

And that probably wasn’t the only gold piece he had, either…

Forcing a smile, she rose to her feet in a manner that could hopefully be described as ‘graceful’ but was probably more ‘threatening’. Shit, what was she supposed to do? Or say? Drawing on all the love scenes in plays she’d seen, she clasped her hands and held them to her unscarred cheek, purring – okay, probably growling, but close enough – “Why, of course, you… handsome… stud… you.”

Agni above. The Ember Island Players would reject her for this performance. But it seemed to be working; the man was smirking and puffing out his chest a little.

She gave a kick to Uncle, who looked about to protest, and grabbed the man’s arm, dragging him away. “Come on, that alley over there looks real inviting.”

“Wow, you’re eager!”

Her smile probably looked more like a grimace. “Eager to get my hands on a few things.”

“Aw, yeah!” He grinned as she pulled him into the darkness of the alley.

⁂

Zuko emerged from the alleyway a minute later, alone, with a pair of broadswords strapped to her waist and carrying a full purse.

She attempted what she was pretty sure was a sashay as she walked back to Uncle, buying some sweet buns from a cart on the way past with her newly-acquired funds and handing one to him.

“You’re right, Uncle. Using my feminine charm _does_ get me whatever I want.” She finished her bun and wrapped the rest back up for later. “Now come on. We should get away from here before he regains consciousness.”

⁂

They bought food in the next village, as well as a simple pot and a few plates. Iroh suggested getting a tent, but Zuko pointed out that it’d be too much trouble to carry and anyway neither of them knew how to pitch one, and simply bought proper bedrolls.

Zuko kept possession of the money she’d earned fair and square by punching a guy really hard, and refused to relinquish it no matter how much Uncle tried to talk her into buying various tacky ornaments that he couldn’t afford with the copper pieces _he’d_ earned.

They passed a stall selling masks and she was so tempted by the Blue Spirit mask she saw… But they needed to make their ( _her_ ) money last, and stealing one in broad daylight was too risky. Another time.

She did have enough to buy some cheap black trousers, along with a matching shirt. So she’d have something to wear when she did need to assume the mantle of the Blue Spirit once more.

(Looking at what was left of the money, that would probably be sooner rather than later.)

Uncle pointed excitedly at a stall selling herbs and spices, and for once Zuko let him browse without comment; now that they had food to eat, it’d be nice if they could give it some actual flavour.

It even had Fire Nation spices, though obviously the prices were astronomical. Frowning, she peered at the selection on offer in the hope of spotting something cheap that’d give their food a kick.

“Aw, c’mon, girlie,” the stallholder leered. “You’d be real pretty if you smiled.”

“You want a smile?” she snarled, grabbing for the swords. “I’ll give you a smile!”

“Zu- Niece, no!” Uncle grabbed her and dragged her away, apologising to the man as he did so. Zuko was too enraged to shake him off.

When he felt they were a safe enough distance, he let her go and she whirled to face him. “How dare you let him talk to me like that?”

He sighed, which just annoyed her more; how dare he act like she was being the unreasonable one? “Niece. I understand you are angry. But you cannot answer everything with violence, however tempting it might be.”

Zuko muttered a few words she’d learned from the Wani’s crew, which Iroh chose to ignore, knowing he’d long since lost _that_ particular battle.

“I know we’ve had some difficult times lately. We’ve had to struggle just to get by. But it’s nothing to be ashamed of. There is a simple honour in poverty.”

A woman walking past caught that last part and scowled at him. Her ragged clothing suggested that if Uncle was correct, she must be extremely honourable.

And besides, that wasn’t what she needed, and Uncle knew that. She waited a few moments until they’d left the outskirts of the village, before replying. “There is no honour for me without the Avatar.”

“Zuko.” He sighed, then stopped and put a hand on her shoulder. “Even if you did capture the Avatar, I’m not so sure it would solve our problems. Not now.”

She pulled away, walking on towards the woods where they would be camping tonight. “Then there’s no hope at all.”

He hurried to catch up with her and grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her gently but firmly to face him. “No, Zuko! You must never give in to despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.”

He looked serious, and she thought it might be the first time he’d ever given advice that wasn’t in the form of proverbs.

Weirdly, that made it somehow harder to take in.

“Come on, Uncle. Let’s find a place to camp.”

⁂

Zuko thought about Uncle’s words while preparing and eating dinner, while staring to the fire afterwards (as Uncle relayed some story that seemed to be a particularly longform proverb of some kind), while meditating, as she lay in her bedroll before falling asleep, and then when she rose the next morning and began working through katas.

It wasn’t just about what he’d said. It was more that it touched on something that had been turning over in her mind for a few days now.

Uncle had been a great support during her banishment. He’d helped her get over her stupid fear of fire after… after. He’d done everything he could to keep her spirits up during the dark days before the Avatar had emerged from hiding, when she’d begun to despair that she’d never be able to go home. He’d used what influence he had to counteract the reputation she carried as a banished royal bearing a mark of shame.

And he’d made the switch from ‘nephew’ to ‘niece’ without protest or judgement.

But now?

There was no further help he could give her aside from advice (and most of his advice was incomprehensible, and some of what she could understand was downright dubious). And she wasn’t sure if any of his advice could help her regain her honour, find her place.

She needed to stand on her own two feet if she was ever going to figure out where she was going to go from here.

She waited for him to get up (for a Firebender, he certainly liked to sleep in), and have breakfast before breaking the news.

“Uncle. I thought a lot about what you said.”

He looked up, a broad smile on his face. “You did? Good, good.”

She took a deep breath. “It’s helped me realise something. We no longer have anything to gain by travelling together. I need to find my own way.”

She picked up her pack and began to walk away, not sure she could deal with his reaction; he’d be so disappointed in her.

“Wait!” he called after her.

She turned back to him, despite her worries, but he merely looked sad yet resigned. He walked up to her and embraced her. “Be safe, Niece.”

She nodded. “You too, Uncle.”

Then she turned and walked away, sure that she was really making the right decision.


	6. Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for implied threats of rape, because Gow & his gang seem very much the type to pull that shit

A little more than a week later and Zuko was… somewhat less confident in her decision.

She’d foolishly left most of the food and money with Uncle. He was older and less able to work (and too honest to consider stealing), and given his takings when he’d been begging, his earning potential there was pretty limited too. And she was sure there’d be another town just up the road.

Not only was there no town up the road, there was no _anything_. The verdant plains, rice paddies and woodlands gave way to scrublands which gave way to desolate plains, and by the time she began to suspect that the barren landscape wasn’t just a small area, she was deep enough in that there was nothing to be gained by turning back.

All she could do was keep putting one foot in front of the other, as hunger gnawed at her belly and her waterskin emptied. The scarf draped over her head did little to protect her from the sun.

She stumbled and fell to the ground, and it was so tempting to sit and rest… just for a moment…

She jerked her eyes open, not sure how long she’d been out. She was pretty sure the sun had moved.

She forced herself back to her feet and kept walking.

When she saw the small town in front of her, she almost thought it was a mirage at first.

Pulling on her last reserves of strength, she straightened from her tired slump and marched into the town, which seemed mostly deserted.

Walking up to the first merchant she saw, she reached into a pocket and pulled out the few coppers she had. “Could I get some water, and something hot to eat?” Remembering Uncle’s advice, and considering the desperateness of her situation, she added a, “Please?”

The man shrugged, not dismissively, but more as if he didn’t have the energy to spare on pity (which Zuko appreciated). “I can get you some water, but there’s not enough there for a hot meal.”

“Cold will do.” Not like she couldn’t heat it up herself, somewhere out of sight. And she was hungry enough that she’d probably not even waste time bothering anyway.

The water he gave her was barely enough to half-fill her waterskin, but it was better than no water at all, so she began pouring it in, as he went back for the food.

She heard laughter from next to the stall and looked down to see a pair of kids peeking out, giggling at the group of soldiers across the street. One of them threw at egg and Zuko bit back a curse.

_What a waste of food! I could have eaten that!_

And of course they assumed she threw it.

Zuko brushed off their questioning, not having the energy for anything more, even as their questions took on a more sinister tone, asking why a woman was travelling alone, snidely enquiring if she needed _help_ , with the glances she could feel on her leaving no doubt as to what their ‘help’ would entail.

And then they snatched her food as soon as it was placed on the counter. She wasn’t even sure what it was, and it did not look appetising, but it was _her_ damned food…

She should rage, attack, grab back what was taken, demand to know how they _dared_.

But. She just did not have the energy.

Part of her was a little scared at that. She could never ever have been described as passive. She had always pushed back at anything she thought was objectionable, even when it was a bad idea (even when it made Father angry, made him burn her face to teach her a lesson). And anger had fuelled her these last three years. Its sudden loss was disorienting…

All she could do is watch as they walked off with her food, a small part of her pathetically grateful that they hadn’t tried to take more than that.

“Those soldiers are supposed to protect us from the Fire Nation, but they’re just a bunch of thugs.” The merchant sounded as resigned as she was.

If she had the energy, she would laugh at the idea of those guys taking on a Firebender who wasn’t half dead.

She had planned on asking the merchant if anyone in town needed work doing or was willing to put someone up for a night, but it was probably better to move on and try her luck elsewhere.

She began walking up the street, only to be accosted by one of the egg-throwers.

“Thanks for not ratting me out.”

She shrugged and kept walking. The only reason she hadn’t was because she just hadn’t _cared_.

“Hey, c’mon, lady. I’ll take you back to my house and you can get something to eat. They took your food ‘cause of me, so I owe you.”

She wanted to decline; she did not need _charity_. She could handle herself.

Then her legs gave way and she stumbled, spared the utter indignity of a complete collapse only because the kid stepped up to her side and she caught herself on his shoulder, using him as support.

Shit.

She allowed herself the luxury of a few drops of precious water, but knew that even if she drank every last drop it probably wouldn’t give her the energy to get out of town. And she didn’t want to think what sort of price those soldiers would extract, when she was unable to fight back.

And they _had_ taken her food because the kid had pissed them off; he really did owe her. It wasn’t _pity_. It wasn’t _charity_.

“Fine.”

⁂

A bearded man Zuko assumed was the kid’s father greeted them when they reached the farm.

“Lee, you brought a friend?”

“Dad! She didn’t tell on me to the soldiers and they were all picking on her and took all her food!”

Lee’s mother joined her husband, smiling. “Oh you poor thing! What’s your name?”

“Ling.” She used the same alias she’d given to Song, seeing no point in thinking up yet another new name.

“Well, Ling. I’m Sela, this is Gansu, and you’ve already met Lee. Supper’s going to be ready soon. Would you like to stay?”

She opened her mouth to refuse, explain that she should be moving on, because yes, the kid might technically owe her because the soldiers might not have bothered her if he hadn’t antagonised them so it was technically his fault her food had been taken, and she was so, so hungry, and so so tired from walking (why had she not stolen that ostrich-horse?), but she resented the pity she saw in their eyes.

And then she was falling again and this time she did go sprawling in the dirt, and someone was lifting her up, and she struggled enough to prevent them from grabbing her legs, because fine, maybe she needed a little help, but she was not about to be carried.

Then there was the cool shade and enclosed space of a house, and she was laid down, someone propping up her head so water could be carefully poured down her throat, and she realised she had to accept this, because she might not want pity, but she did want to live, so this was her only option.

She could hear someone saying, “Those soldiers should be ashamed to wear Earth Kingdom uniforms, picking on a defenceless young woman like this.” and she wanted to rage and throw fire, but all she could do was drink the sweet, sweet water.

It could have been hours later, but was probably minutes, and eventually she felt a little better. At least enough to sit up, though it felt like a monumental effort.

Looking around, she saw Lee lurking in the doorway (she was surprised he was hanging back; probably had been shooed out by his mother), Gansu sitting a few feet away holding a cup that presumably was the source of the water Zuko had been drinking, while Sela was in the small kitchen area rummaging around.

She walked back over carrying a small bowl of gently steaming broth, that she handed to her. “It’s not much, but it’ll help ease the hunger pangs a little until supper is ready.” The look on Zuko’s face must have been obvious, because she added. “There are chores you can help with, if you like to keep busy.”

⁂

Zuko peered at her stitches, wondering how it was so impossible to get them neat and even. There was a needle, and some thread, and a torn piece of fabric. All you had to do was pull the needle through the fabric. Sela didn’t seem to have any trouble, but Zuko’s work was haphazard and messy, and she kept accidentally letting the thread slip out of the needle’s eye and having to rethread it.

Part of her was resentful at being expected to sew. Okay yes, it was a useful skill and she supposed she could now repair the rip she’d torn in the sleeve of her dress but there was a half-finished roof right there that nobody had seemingly considered asking her to help with!

Not that she knew how to put together a roof, but _still_ …

“Whose swords are those?” Lee blurted out from the doorway, and Zuko jabbed herself on the needle. She’d forgotten he was there.

“Mine.” They were now, anyway.

“Why have you got swords?” _Because men are stupid._

“To fight with.”

“But you’re a girl!”

“So?”

“Girls don’t fight!”

“They do where I’m from.” She cursed herself for that slip-up, which of course Lee seized upon.

“Really? Where are you from?”

“Far away.” _Please get the hint, kid._

He didn’t. “Where are you going?”

Thankfully his mother took pity (ugh) on her. “Lee, it’s not very polite to ask personal questions of strangers like this, okay? Leave the poor girl alone.”

 _‘Poor girl’_. Ugh. But if it stopped the kid from his questions…

It did. For five seconds. Until Zuko brushed her hair out of her face in the hope that her damaged eye would help her keep track of the thread better. “Hey, where did you get that scar?”

The needle went deep into Zuko’s finger this time and a small patch of blood bloomed on the material. She somehow managed to bite back the not-appropriate-for-children words that wanted to spew out.

“Lee! You know you can’t ask questions like that!”

Zuko focused on her sewing, not looking up.

⁂

Supper was fine. Zuko had been spared from further interrogation by being far too busy eating, and the same was true for Lee. Sela and Gansu kept up most of the conversation, telling her about their eldest son, Sen Su, who was off fighting in the war along with all the other young men, and how he was a _proper_ soldier, not like those bullies, who treated the townspeople like their personal servants and did whatever they wanted.

“At least they’ll be able to protect us if any Firebenders show up.” Sela sighed, trying to find a bright side. “Oh are you alright?”

That was directed at Zuko, who had attempted to cover up her derisive snort with a cough, and almost choked on her mouthful of noodles. She nodded and accepted the cup of water Gansu handed to her.

At least that had served to mask her unsuitable reaction. It wasn’t so much that it showed any kind of suspicious disloyalty (nobody liked Gow and his gang of thugs). But they probably didn’t want an assessment of the town’s chances against Firebenders from someone with a burn scar on her face.

⁂

She jerked awake on her pile of straw as a shadowy figure grabbed her swords and ran out. The initial flash of worry was quashed as she realised how small the figure was.

Then she sighed. She desperately needed sleep, and it’s not like the kid was going to keep them – he was obviously just going to wave them around pretending to be a real warrior, just like Zuko proudly flourishing the knife Uncle had sent from Ba Sing Se.

But swords are dangerous things to be waving around (obviously – that was their whole _purpose_ ) and two blades were tricky even for experienced wielders. And she’d had the best healers in the Fire Nation just a few corridors away if she’d messed up; she wasn’t even sure this town had a proper healer.

A pile of badly-repaired clothing that Sela was probably going to have to unpick and redo was already poor repayment for these people’s hospitality as it was; their son losing a limb would be less so.

Groaning, she got to her feet and went looking for the sword-thief.

She found him in a field of sunflowers, and winced. Never mind a limb – it was a miracle the kid hadn’t decapitated himself.

She waited until he had paused slightly, with the swords in a position where he was unlikely to cut himself if startled.

“You’re holding them all wrong.”

He fell backwards at her words, but at least managed to keep hold of the swords and keep them pointing away from him.

Looking ashamed, he stood up and offered the swords to her, and _Agni above he was pointing the blades towards her_. Zuko dredged up reserves of patience she’d had no idea she possessed and managed not to scream at the kid for such a dangerous breach of sword etiquette. He didn’t know any better and he’d only misinterpret her horrified panic.

She took them back, putting them in the sheath. Then took pity on him. There was some vague talent there, considering he’d managed to avoid injuring himself. Just… maybe not the swords.

“Here, try this.” She handed him her knife, and he perked back up.

He could still injure himself, but it would be at least slightly harder to do, and the resulting injury would likely be less severe unless he _really_ fucked up.

She showed him a few basic knife-fighting stances and moves, watching and smiling as the boy picked them up quickly.

She allowed this for a short while, before having to fight back a yawn. “Come on, you need sleep, kid.”

He grinned, giving a mock bow as he handed the knife back. “You would really like my brother Sen Su. He used to show me stuff like this all the time.”

She nodded, mind half on her comfortable pile of straw (which right now seemed more luxurious than her old bed back at the palace).

“Hey, you should stick around! Then when he comes back the two of you can get married.”

Zuko squawked indignantly. Were all kids like this?

⁂

The next day, she helped Gansu with the roof. She wasn’t any better at it than sewing.

⁂

Sela handed her a package of food when she announced that she needed to move on. She would not rely on their hospitality any longer than she had to, and she no longer had to.

She wasn’t in imminent danger of faceplanting into the dirt anymore, and the road ahead was hopefully easier – there was a small stream running alongside the farm that had to go somewhere if she followed it, and she had glimpsed green off in the distance while perched on the very top of the barn.

Hopefully, anyway. Knowing her luck the stream could disappear underground and the green could be a narrow strip bordering an even more desolate landscape. But she’d never been one to hold back from charging in blindly before, and didn’t see any reason to start now.

“Here. This out to get you through a few meals.”

She nodded her thanks, and added it to her pack, but before they could exchange proper goodbyes, there was a rumbling in the distance, and a cloud of dust coming up the road that resolved itself into the soldiers riding armoured ostrich-horses.

Great.

“What do you want, Gow?” asked Gansu when the riders stopped before them.

“Just thought someone ought to tell you, your son’s battalion got captured.” He ignored the family’s looks of shock and horror and turned to one of his men. “You buys hear what the Fire Nation did with their last group of Earth Kingdom prisoners?”

One of his lackeys responded to this clearly-expected question, the confrontation so rehearsed Zuko almost expected one of them to pull out a script. “Dressed them up in Fire Nation uniforms and put them on the frontline unarmed, way I heard it.” He spat on the ground. “Then they just watched.”

“Really?” That… sounded implausible. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know the Fire Nation military were capable of less than honourable tactics ( _“Those soldiers love and defend our nation! How can you betray them?”_ ). But that seemed like a lot of effort when you can just set the enemy on fire and have done with it.

Gow and his men glared at her. Oh, right. She’d said that first bit out loud. Oh well.

She shrugged. “Just seems a lot of effort really. For a ruse that is so easy to see through. Or are you suggesting the mighty Earth Kingdom army would fail to notice a group of Fire Nation soldiers who look pretty Earth Kingdom-ish and can Earthbend.”

One of the soldiers leaned over to mutter to one of his compatriots and Zuko had a horrible feeling it was something like, “You know what, she looks kinda Fire Nation-y.”

Maybe appearance hadn’t been the best tack here…

“How dare you!”

“How dare I? You’re the one who treats stories of atrocities as a means to mock a worried family!”

Gow glared at her, looking like he was trying to think of a comeback, but that ‘witty’ little routine must have taken hours to plan, because after a few seconds he gave up and switched gears, smirking at her.

“You know, I seem to recall telling you to get out of town.”

“Going right now, actually.” She almost gestured to her packed bag for illustration, but stopped herself in time, knowing damn well they’d run off with all her stuff.

“Oh really?” The smirk widened, nastily. “Tell you what, how about we give you a _ride_ out of town?” There was a nasty emphasis on the word ‘ride’, and the others leered and sniggered,

She responded with mock politeness. “I think I can manage on my own, thank you.”

Gow put a hand on one of his hammers. “This ain’t an offer you can decline.”

She spat. “Pigs.”

“Show some respect, girlie!” snarled one of the men, who presumably all had names. Probably.

“You’re right. That was out of line.” She leaned around to get a view of the sheep-pig and cow-pig enclosures. “I’m sorry for insulting you all by comparing you to these losers!”

She heard Lee muffle a laugh as Gow’s face darkened.

He swung down from the saddle, followed by his lackeys.

“You’re gonna regret that, bitch.”

She shifted her stance slightly to be ready but didn’t bother touching her weapons yet. A guy like this would telegraph any movement well in advance. “I have more than a few regrets in my life already. I doubt this’ll be one of them.”

He turned to his men. “Are you going to let this girl stand there and insult you like this?”

Idiot #1 rushed wildly at her brandishing his spear. It wasn’t even worth unsheathing her swords. She ducked under his flailing, kicking up into his stomach, lifting him up into the air and sending him flying.

Idiot #2 went with the exact same method, even as his compatriot lay sprawled on the ground near the animal pens, retching. She ducked his swings, dodging and dancing as he slashed furiously at her, before getting inside his reach and punching him hard in the face.

He stumbled away, stunned, ending up collapsing next to Idiot #1 in an apparent gesture of defeated solidarity, as Idiot #3 made his attempt. Which shockingly enough involved running at her with a spear.

Really, she knew the Earth Kingdom prided itself on being solid and unchanging, but come on now. She should revel in this clear sign of the Fire Nation’s superiority, but the secondhand embarrassment made it really hard.

She waited until he was so close he was a split second from impaling her, and then finally unsheathed her swords, flicking and whirling them in a blur as she whittled the spear down to within an inch of his fingers, before kicking out at his kneecap.

A nasty crunching noise and a scream and he went down, though with his momentum still carrying him forward. She took advantage of that, shifting both swords into one hand, then grabbing him and spinning to fling him off in the direction of his companions.

(She was disappointed to note that he didn’t make it that far. She’d have to work on her man-flinging technique. And come up with a better name for it than that.)

She kept her swords out, shifting them back into each hand, certain that for all Gow’s swagger, he’d at least be more of a challenge and she shouldn’t get cocky at how easy the others had been.

He didn’t waste time with smirking and sneering now, drawing the warhammers from his belt, hitting the ground with one, and knocking the resulting chunk of rock with the other.

She was sure that wasn’t necessary, but it would be a bit hypocritical for a Firebender to mock someone for an unnecessarily flashy technique.

She batted the projectile away with a sword.

He sent a few more flying at her, and she managed to block most of them, but one hit her in the stomach. She recovered easily and tried to advance towards her opponent, wanting to shift to offence from defence, but was kept back by a steady stream of rocks. Several of them made contact, despite her best efforts, and it was only a matter of time before one hit hard enough to do serious damage.

(Was this how Lu Ten had died?)

It turned out he must have been toying with her, because at that moment, he hit the ground harder than before, sending out a shockwave that caused a huge rock to burst out of the ground and knock her flying.

She landed hard, her head hitting the ground. The world blurred and sound was distorted even on her good side, and she could feel darkness rushing up to drag her down…

“Hey, you!” she heard Lee yelling.

She was pretty sure he was addressing Gow, trying to draw his attention, but she seized on it, and she clawed her way into consciousness, forcing herself to her feet, expecting Gow to be standing over her, hammer ready to strike, but he wasn’t.

Oh fuck.

She must have dropped her knife when Gow had knocked her flying, because Lee was holding it in a vague approximation of one of the stances she’d taught him, and Gow was advancing on him, and she won’t make it in time, and his parents are frozen, and _this kid is going to get himself killed_.

She did the only thing she could, slashing out with a hand and sending a wall of flames between them, driving Gow back and causing Lee to fall over, dropping the knife as he scuttled away from the flames looking terrified.

Pushing herself upright, she spun, casting a whirlwind of fire around her (though careful to keep it only around herself, and not too close to any of the highly flammable buildings or people).

Gow dropped his hammers, and she relished the look of terror on his face as she sent a fireball in his direction, knocking him flying as he had to her (though she extinguished the flames right after it hit, because he might be scum, but she wasn’t a monster).

He attempted to recover, getting into an Earthbending stance, and Zuko charged at him, sending a volley of fireballs at him as flames danced on her swords, returning the treatment he’d given her.

The next time he went down, he made no move to get back up. “Leave, now. While you still can.” His lackeys had recovered at this point, and the two who could still walk grabbed their fallen leader and helped him towards the ostrich-horses (who had shied away from the flames, but apparently been trained with the expectation that they’d face fire, so had stopped a short distance away), while Idiot #3 limped after them using a spear as a crutch.

“You should probably have a word with your superiors about replacing you all with people who aren’t bullies. And who are actually capable of fighting Firebenders.”

She’d let her flames die down as soon as it became obvious Gow was not going to continue the fight, but didn’t sheath her swords until they were all on their ostrich-horses and riding away.

Then she turned. And looked into three horrified faces.

“Look, I-” she began, not even sure what she was going to say.

Her words seemed to break whatever spell had kept them frozen, and their horrified expressions all coalesced into various forms of disgust and fear.

She took a step towards them, and they all stepped back, Sela pushing Lee behind her.

She held out her hands, pleading. “Please, I’m not your enemy!”

Gensu moved in front of his wife and son. “Get out of here, ashmaker. You’re not longer welcome.”

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. “Fine.”

She retrieved her knife, making sure it was secure in her sash this time, and hoisted her pack onto her shoulder, before turning to leave.

She turned back one last time before heading off up the road.

“My name is Zuko, by the way.” She wasn’t sure there was any point to honesty at this point, but she might as well.

Then she walked away up the road, following the route taken by the soldiers she’d fought.

Just as defeated as they were.


	7. Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expectation: I'm gonna get a lot of writing done this week because the Vergil DLC for _Devil May Cry 5_ drops on PS4 next week & I'll be too busy then, so I should get some chapters piled up ready!
> 
> Reality: I'm gonna spend the week playing the normal edition of DMC5 to prepare, & get nothing else done at all!

Zuko trudged on, wondering why it was that any attempts on her part to help only ended up making things worse.

At least her travels were easier now. A few meals, some water, and a night’s rest, and she was no longer keeling over from starvation. And the bundle of food (that felt ten times heavier now) and a full waterskin ensured her chances of imminent death had gone down from ‘certain’ to the more usual ‘probable’. And following the stream for a short while brought her into verdant grasslands.

She hadn’t realised how much she’d missed the sight of actual plant life.

She reached a small village clustered around a wide part of the stream, and even though she still had food left, the memory of hunger gnawed at her like it was still actually there, so she stopped and asked around to see if anyone needed any work doing in exchange for a bite to eat, in order to make what she had last longer.

Nobody was, but she stumbled upon a group of men outside the local ‘tavern’ (really just somebody’s house where they’d brewed something alcoholic and put some seating outside for other villagers to gather, the place being too small and remote to support something more official) who caught sight of her swords and bet she couldn’t win against them in a fight. She won a decent amount from them before they realised their error and attempted to earn back their losses by switching to knife throwing, where she won even more (thank you, Mai).

This caused much delight amongst the growing crowd of onlookers, and as she walked away before she pushed them too far and ended up getting herself run out of two settlements in a row, one of the girls accosted her and insisted she come home and stay the night.

Zuko agreed – she’d dallied too long and evening was approaching – on the condition they let her help out in some way.

The girl’s mother did need help preparing dinner, which led to a cooking lesson.

She was shocked that Zuko had no cooking skills whatsoever beyond the most basic ‘throw something in a pot, add heat, sprinkle in some spices if you have them, hope the result is edible’, but Zuko’s reaction to the question “Didn’t your mother teach you?” ensured the subject was quickly dropped.

(Her abilities at chopping up ingredients were met with effusive compliments, and wisely not questioned.)

After dinner, the girl, Kyime, pulled out an unfamiliar stringed instrument and her younger brother some kind of drum, and the family gathered in the small living room to sing. Just like music night on the Wani.

(Where were her crew now? Were they doing alright? Were they even alive?)

She didn’t really join in. Her voice was strange and raspy. Kyime said it was nice and soothing, but she wasn’t sure if she was just trying to spare her feelings. Anyway, she didn’t know most of the songs. (And a few were uncomfortably uncomplimentary towards Firebenders.) So she just vaguely hummed along.

(She joined in on _Secret Tunnel_ though. You couldn’t _not_ join in on that song. You just had to. Who could hate that song? You’d have to be a monster.)

⁂

The next morning, she was handed a small bag of rice (along with a reminder about water ratio and cooking time) and some mochi. She thanked the family and continued on her way.

⁂

She used some of her winnings from the previous village to buy things at the next town. A whetstone for her swords, a pot to cook the rice she’d been given, even some spices (a bit of a splurge, she had to admit, but haggling was one skill she had definitely picked up after three years on an increasingly limited budget she’d been expected to run an entire ship on, and the merchant at this stall didn’t demand she smile).

She would have liked to repair the small hole in one of her boots too, but that was the last of her money.

At least it was the last of her money until a man (who was Uncle’s age, for Agni’s sake) whistled and made lewd comments at her. Pushing down her furious reaction, she smiled and beckoned him, stepping into an alley that was more of an alcove.

This one, she beat bloody, rather than simply knocking him unconscious.

He wasn’t carrying much, but it was enough to get her boot repaired and have some left over.

⁂

The landscape remained pleasant, though the increasingly mountainous and rocky terrain made her glad she’d risked taking the time to stop at the cobbler, even though every minute she’d stayed in the town increased the likelihood that her unwilling benefactor would wake and she could be hunted down.

Her fear that the stream would disappear underground turned out to be valid though; it disappeared into the side of a mountain. She considered her next move. Following the stream had been a safe bet – a steady supply of water, and the increased likelihood of settlements as many people before her had come to the same conclusion.

She could try to skirt around the mountain and hope it came out the other side, but there was no guarantee it would, and who knew how long it would take her to find it even if it did.

She pleaded with Agni for a sign, not really expecting anything, even after the boon that Tui had given her.

Then a cluster of soft white hairs fell from the sky and landed right in her skyward-stretched palms.

⁂

After walking in the direction the wind seemed to have blown the fur in from, she soon found more clumps of fur.

Her pace seemed excruciatingly slow, but she knew better than to give into the temptation to run, no matter how badly she needed to find the Avatar. She would only exhaust herself long before she caught up with him, and probably twist an ankle clambering over rocks.

The bison would have to stop eventually; she knew it could only fly for so long. And even if she didn’t arrive before it had rested and taken off again, somebody would spot it flying over, or the Avatar and his friends would draw attention to themselves in whatever town they stopped at. There would be something to go on, some clue to follow.

She could do this.

Then she stumbled on a pair of deep, parallel trenches that could only have come from a Fire Nation tank.

Somebody else from the Fire Nation was also tracking the Avatar, and whoever it was had a faster means of travel than just their own feet, as well as a head start.

Possibly Azula.

Oh, who was she kidding? It was _definitely_ Azula.

She still didn’t run. A memory of her uncle’s voice echoed in her thoughts. _Sometimes the race is won by those who follow the slower and steadier course, Princess Zuko_. (Her mind substituted ‘princess’ for what he _had_ said, but his general point still stood).

She was pretty sure she’d ignored his words at the time, but right now she needed all the help she could get, and her uncle wasn’t actually here to offer anything.

At least the tracks were easier to follow than the wisps of bison fur, so she could quicken her pace a little now that she didn’t have to keep an eye out.

The tracks themselves ended at the tank itself, abandoned. Damn. Back to looking out for bison hair. This turned out to be much easier than before – she could see the trail from across the clearing.

(Was the bison sick? It had seemed an extremely fluffy creature, but even so it would soon be bald at this rate.)

She was careful to stay in the woods as much as possible in case anyone remained inside and was actually paying attention. She waited for long and excruciating moments after dashing across the open space left by the passage of the machine, but no alarm was raised and nobody emerged to pursue her.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she continued following the trail through the woods, into grasslands, then into scrublands, then another dusty wasteland. Great.

Turning back wasn’t an option, so she patted the waterskin that she’d been diligent-to-the-point-of-paranoia at refilling as she’d travelled, and kept going.

Mercifully, only a short way into the desert, she stumbled out onto the top of a rocky bluff and saw a village nestled into the valley below. The wall was breached in several places and place looked abandoned.

But there was no sign of a sky bison, even though the trail seemed to have led here, and she scanned the horizon, wondering if her destination lay further ahead still.

And then a burst of blue fire exploded in the village.

Shit.

⁂

The bluff where Zuko had been standing wasn’t so much steep as it was a vertical drop, so she had no choice but to circle around the village to find a shallower access point, cursing every second wasted, and for once rooting for the Avatar to come out on top.

At least she didn’t have to bother conserving her energy so much, now that her goal was in sight, though she did need to focus on the path ahead, wary of crevasses and loose stones or patches of sand, no option to pay attention to the battle raging (it sounded like the Avatar had found an Earthbending teacher, judging by the thuds and rumblings).

Finally on the valley floor and able to run flat out, she could see flashes of orange flames. Was Azula working with another Firebender?

Not bothering to waste any more time trying to find a gap she clambered over the wall, hurling herself down the street, the setting sun only adding to the feeling that she’d run out of time.

It suddenly occurred to her that she couldn’t hear any sounds of battle anymore. Oh no, oh no.

Then she rounded a corner to see Azula cornered, hands raised in surrender, and she should not be this happy to see the Avatar and his companions victorious…

And Uncle is there!

“Uncle!” she called out.

That was a mistake.

Uncle turned at the sound of her voice, and Azula was never one to waste an opportunity when it presented itself on a platter, hurling a bolt of lightning at Uncle while he is distracted, before fleeing.

Zuko screamed in rage (and guilt) and chased after her, hurling fire, but she avoided the blasts easily, darting away with no sign of exhaustion (because _she_ hadn’t been walking all day non-stop) and leaping onto the back of a lizard, which carried her out of the village.

She wanted to pursue anyway, despite the blatant futility (it’s not as if an apparently futile quest had ever stopped her before), but _Uncle is hurt and it’s all her fault_.

Angry and guilty, she turned back and ran towards Uncle.

The Avatar and his companions were gathered around his prone form, the Waterbender crouching over him, and _her hands are glowing_.

“What are you doing?” she lunged towards them, panicked, only to be stopped by the Avatar, who Airbent into her path.

“Hey, it’s okay! Katara’s healing him, that’s all. She’s an amazing healer! She’ll fix him up no problem!”

She wanted to snarl and lash out. Firebenders were these people’s enemies. People didn’t help their enemy, even if that enemy helped them (would look at them with hatred even if the Firebender had fought off bullying soldiers).

But the sincerity on his face was undeniable. And everyone always did find it easier to like Uncle than they did her. Besides, she’d already started doing… whatever it was she was doing.

Zuko slumped and nodded in acknowledgement. “It’s my fault, if I hadn’t distracted him…”

“Hey, it’s okay.” He patted her shoulder comfortingly. “I think she might have been lying about surrendering.”

He looked disappointed, as if the very idea of someone lying about something was upsetting. He was going to have to get used to that.

There was a snort from the pale-eyed girl in Earth Kingdom colours who had to be an Earthbender, as there was no way someone with clothing of that quality would be walking around barefoot otherwise. “Oh, she was totally lying. I don’t think you’d even need my awesome senses to tell _that_.”

Zuko stepped around the Avatar, who let her past now that she’d calmed down a little, and watched the girl – Katara – work, as a conversation played out behind her.

“I just, don’t like not taking people at their word.” The Avatar sounded conflicted. “The monks taught me to always look for the good in people and to give them the benefit of the doubt. What if we run into her again and I attack her while she’s surrendering for real?”

Zuko barked out a bitter laugh. “There’s an easy way to tell if Azula is lying.”

“Really?” The kid danced in front of her again, but she wouldn’t take her eyes off Uncle. “How?”

“You check to see if her lips are moving, and if they are, then she’s lying.”

Any response he might have made to that was interrupted by the Waterbender sitting up, the glow fading as she bent the water back into her pouch.

“I’ve done what I can for now. He’ll need a few more sessions, but I’m too tired to do anything more right now. It’s safe to move him at least.”

The girl did look exhausted (as did the others, though the Avatar covered it up pretty well with his natural perkiness), and Zuko wondered how long Azula had been snapping at their heels for.

The Earthbender created a ramp next to the sky bison, ostensibly so Iroh could be lifted up, but probably to the secret gratitude of the whole group.

Nobody made any protest as Zuko joined them (she was surely not welcome but she was _not_ leaving Uncle alone with them), and she wondered that nobody had said anything yet. Maybe they were too tired, or they were waiting until the Waterbender wasn’t busy with healing so they could attack as a group. Whatever the reason, nobody spoke as they flew away from the burning town. Zuko hadn’t even noticed the fire spreading, but now the place was an inferno.

(Was this what people saw as they fled Fire Nation attacks?)

They didn’t go far, just flying back out of the desert and landing as soon as the Avatar spotted a suitable campsite next to a stream.

She shared the mochi she’d been given earlier when the Water Tribe boy (She really should know all their names, right? She’d chased them across the entire world, for Agni’s sake.) complained that he was hungry and it was clear that nobody had the energy to cook anything.

(She included the small black and white creature that accompanied the group – it was probably the brains of the outfit – when it approached with a pleading look, and it accepted happily, scampering up to sit on her shoulder.)

Everybody seemed strangely delighted to be offered food by their sworn enemy, and didn’t look or sniff at the cakes suspiciously.

These kids were so lucky she wasn’t intent on capturing the Avatar right now (it would be dishonourable to do so while they were offering aid to Uncle, not to mention dangerous for him if said aid was withdrawn too soon) because they were way too trusting and it turned out capturing him would be a simple matter of offering him drugged food.

She didn’t understand how they could be so trusting.

(She’d been this trusting once and look where it had gotten her.)

She was too tired to ponder it now, though, so she joined the others in sleep, making sure to place her bedroll closest to Uncle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Headcanon time: Everyone loves _Secret Tunnel_. Everyone. Even Ozai is lowkey tapping his foot under those concealing Firelord robes. It's just Sokka.


	8. Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look! An update!
> 
> Sorry, I kinda got distracted & then I had to find my motivation to write again once I'd gotten off track.

She was up at the first light of dawn as usual, her inner flame awakening with Agni’s appearance in the sky. Checking on Uncle, she thought he looked a little better; she wasn’t sure if he was still unconscious or just asleep now.

Normally she would train first thing in the morning, taking advantage of the burst of energy from the sun to work through some Firebending katas or sword drills. But the randomly-chosen campsite was quiet and peaceful, the grass soft beneath her, with the only sounds the babbling of the stream, soft rustling of leaves, and birdsong.

Perfect for meditation.

She gathered up some firewood (helped by the small furry creature – she gave it the last mochi as thanks), and let herself become one with the flames for a while…

“I didn’t know Firebenders meditated.”

Startled, she yelled and blasted fire at her ‘attacker’ before she registered that this might be a bad idea.

She’d been so focused on meditation she’d forgotten she was in a hostile situation. And the Avatar had approached from her bad side.

Ugh, her mission was to _capture_ the Avatar, not roast him alive.

“For Agni’s, sake, kid! Don’t sneak up on a Firebender.”

“My name is Aang.” Great, so that was another name down.

“Fine, _Aang_. The point still stands though.”

The commotion had awoken the others, and her meditation fire soon became a cookfire. Mercifully for everyone, Katara handled that, while her brother yawned and the Avatar chattered on in the background about how excited he was to learn Earthbending, without seeming to need to pause for breath. (Maybe that was some kind of special Airbending technique.)

And somewhere in the stream of words she learned that the Earthbender was Toph, the helpful creature was Momo, and the sky bison was Appa, so now she was only missing one name. Earthbender-now-identified-as-Toph had called the Water Tribe boy Snoozles, but that didn’t sound right. Then again, she didn’t really know anything about Water Tribe naming customs.

Still nobody had said anything about Zuko being here, or dropped any pointed hints about her moving on as soon as possible. Even while she ran through some sword exercises while waiting for breakfast to be ready. Possibly-Snoozles did watch her closely (as if he was suspicious) but made no gesture of disapproval. Katara handed her a bowl as if she was another member of the group.

And then Probably-Not-Actually-Called-Snoozles leaned right into her space (on her left too – they must all have picked up on her poor vision on that side and were doing it deliberately), and said, “So that was some pretty impressive sword work there, hot stuff. Where’d you learn all that? You from some kinda Fire Nation equivalent of the Kyoshi Warriors or something?”

She almost choked on her food. “Hot stuff?”

“Well, yeah, because you’re a Firebender, but, like, a nice one. And look at you.” He gestured at her. “That moon-pale skin, that shirshu-raven hair, those eyes that seem to glow in the firelight!”

“I’m sorry, what?” was all she could manage. Oh Agni, he was flirting. Okay, they definitely knew who she was. This was a joke, right? Tease and embarrass their honour-obsessed enemy.

“I bet even your name is poetry! Wait, what is your name?”

“Oh yeah, we never introduced ourselves,” the Avatar chimed in from where he’d been watching. “I’m Aang, Mr Luuurrve here is Sokka, that’s Katara, and she’s Toph. Oh, and that’s Momo. Can’t forget Momo! Or Appa! So what’s yours?”

Surely they recognised her? Her face hadn’t changed _that_ much. At least she hadn’t thought so, but then again she hadn’t been looking in any mirrors lately (had preferred to avoid looking in any unless necessary for the past three years), and had been going on her reflections in water and windows.

And people mostly focused on the scar anyway, which was covered by her hair as she rarely bothered tying it back unless she really needed to, not when it was so useful for hiding her mark of shame (and more importantly the mark-of-making-you-easily-identifiable-as-a-wanted-fugitive).

The rest of her face might as well not exist.

She looked around all of them, desperate for some indication that this was a joke or a trick, but they all looked curious. Including the Av- Aang, who seemed to be some kind of anti-Azula – all sunshine and rainbows and incapable of lying.

_How could they not know?_

“But… you know my name? We’ve met before. I thought the occasions were pretty memorable.”

“Voice not ringing a bell for me,” Toph commented.

“No, I’ve never met you before.”

“You know,” said Katara, frowning in thought. “You do look familiar, now that I think about it.”

Aang nodded. “Yeah. Like how sometimes I see stuff and remember things from one of my past lives? It’s kind of like that.”

“Well,” smirked Sokka, while doing something… _weird_ with his eyebrows. “I know we haven’t fought before, because I think I would definitely remember that.”

She blinked. Several times. How to even explain this? Direct was probably best.

She pushed her hair back, revealing her scar. “Does this help?”

“ _Zuko_?!“

A flock of birds took flight in panic at Sokka’s horrified scream.

Aang and Katara looked equally shocked. Toph just looked amused.

“Wait, so this is Angry Ponytail Freak?”

Was that what they called her? Well, okay, she supposed it could be worse, but still…

There was a sudden choking noise from next to her. “I was… flirting. With Zuko??!”

“No, no. Don’t stop,” chuckled Aang. “I want to hear more about Zuko’s ‘shirshu-raven hair’.”

Katara was huddled over, shaking with mirth. “What about his ‘moon-pale skin’?”

(Zuko was too busy cringing in embarrassment to dispute the use of ‘his’.)

“As someone unable to see, I for one appreciate the description of eyes glowing in the firelight. Really sets a scene.”

Sokka groaned, vigorously rubbing his head with both hands as if trying to scrub all memory of the conversation. (Zuko understood the impulse, though she was more concerned with what would happen when they calmed down and realised that they had an enemy in their midst.)

“I hate you. I hate everyone right now.”

“Now you know how I feel all the time,” Zuko replied, shrugging.

Of course this drew attention back to her. Out of everyone, only the Earthbender didn’t look bothered. Aang looked hurt. Katara had narrowed her eyes in a suspicious frown. And Sokka looked angry and like he’d been personally insulted.

“So this is your new plan!” snapped Katara. “Disguising yourself and brushing your hair over your face to hide your scar so we don’t recognise you! Just to trick us into trusting you!”

“It’s nothing to do with you! Uncle and I are fugitives and there are wanted posters all over the place. The scar, as you’ve pointed out, is pretty distinctive. Not everything is about you, okay?”

Aang looked uncertain. “What about disguising yourself as a girl? Because that’s a little more than forgetting to tie your hair back!”

“Uh, guys, I think-” began Toph.

Zuko leapt to her feet as the fire flared. “I _am_ a girl!”

Sokka snorted and got to his feet, pointing a finger at her accusingly. “Oh come on, look at you! It’s so obvious now, I can’t believe I fell for it!”

That actually hurt more than when he’d caught her with that boomerang.

“I mean, look at these!” he snapped, grabbing her breasts. “They’re so clearly fa- Oh.”

She screeched and slapped him so hard he flew several feet and hit a tree, as the cookfire became a small inferno.

“How dare you!” She glared at them, ashamed that there were tears in her eyes. At least they probably didn’t notice, what with the flames coming out of her mouth. “How dare all of-”

And then there was a groan from beyond the fire.

“Uncle!” She darted straight towards him, straight through the fire rather than going around it, extinguishing it automatically without thinking and kicking the cooking pot aside. “You’re awake!”

“Ugh, what happened?”

“You were unconscious. Azula did this to you.”

Seeing him struggling to sit up, Katara bustled over and pushed him back down. “No, you need to rest. You shouldn’t move too much. I haven’t finished healing you yet.”

Pulling some water out of her pouch and gathering it onto her hands, she began the same routine as she had yesterday. Uncle didn’t even question it; he’d probably seen Waterbending healing on his travels.

“I’m sorry, Uncle. It was my fault. I distracted you.”

He shook his head and gripped her hand firmly. “Zuko, you must not blame yourself. Your sister would have found an opportunity regardless. And I am so happy to see you…”

He trailed off, falling back into unconsciousness again. Zuko felt a pang of worry, but he was breathing easily and Katara showed no signs of alarm.

Zuko watched for a while until the silence became too much for Sokka. (This took less than a minute.)

“Okay, so are we not gonna talk about the whole ‘Zuko is a girl’ thing? Because what’s up with that?”

Zuko looked over at them, but didn’t let go of Uncle’s hand. “Um, when I fell in the water at the North Pole. The Moon Spirit spoke to me. Somehow it knew what I was thinking, stuff I didn’t even _know_ I was thinking, and said it could make my deepest wish a reality. And, well…” She waved a hand at herself. “This was my thanks.”

Sokka grimaced. “Wow, some thanks!”

She was about to respond with an angry retort asking what he meant by that tone, when the Avatar chimed in, looking concerned.

“Don’t worry!” he announced with obnoxious reassurance. “We’ll find a way to reverse this! We’re experts at spirit stuff!”

She jumped to her feet, waving her arms around wildly, flames trailing the path of her fingers. “Why do people keep saying that?! Didn’t you hear me say this was my deepest wish? I don’t _want_ this reversed!”

“Woah, Sparky!” came Toph’s voice. “I get it okay, but can you not set us on fire? Or at least wait until after I’ve finished breakfast?”

Looking towards the Earthbender, she realised the cookfire had relit and was raging out of control. “Sorry,” she muttered, extinguishing it with a gesture.

She looked down, folding her arms, not sure how to continue now that her anger had been derailed. “I… I always was a girl! Maybe? On the inside at least. I think? I know that doesn’t really make sense – it doesn’t make sense to me either. I don’t know how to describe it. The Moon Spirit just… knew, understood.”

She sank back down to sit on the ground, drained, staring down at her hands in her lap for a moment before looking back up at them. “I’m- I don’t know if I’d say I was _happy_. But this feels right to me.” She glared at the Avatar. “I don’t want to go back to having to live as a boy.”

To his credit, he did actually look sheepish. “Uh, sorry? It wasn’t right for me to assume like that I suppose.”

Sokka just looked baffled. “But why would anyone want-”

“Sokka,” Katara said with a tone of deceptively-bland politeness that Zuko normally associated with Azula. “Before you continue that thought, you should consider that there are three girls here and all of them can murder you without breaking a sweat.”

Sokka wisely shut his mouth.

⁂

Any further debate regarding Zuko’s femininity was curtailed by Toph tossing her bowl away and announcing that it was time for the Avatar’s Earthbending lesson, which he responded to with his usual amount of exuberance.

Zuko really wanted to stay with Uncle, but she sensed that Katara probably wouldn’t hurt him, not when she was going to such effort in healing him, and she didn’t want to risk putting her off with hovering.

Besides, this temporary (undeclared) truce would end once Uncle was recovered and she would resume her mission to capture the Avatar. Gathering information regarding his Earthbending capabilities would be invaluable. So she followed the pair to a rocky area on the other side of the trees.

(On her way she stopped to tie her hair back, because apparently leaving it down was A Problem.)

If the Avatar’s first Earthbending lesson was anything to go by, there wasn’t much information to be gathered. Just second-hand embarrassment.

He couldn’t even move a rock. No matter how many times he attempted the move Toph demonstrated, the rock wouldn’t budge. The only thing that would happen was that half his attempts sent him flying as he accidentally Airbent. He even tried to move a pebble, ignoring Toph’s admonition that size was completely irrelevant in Earthbending, as earth was earth, but still nothing.

(Well, not until he kicked it, but that definitely didn’t count.)

She absolutely needed to capture him soon, if only to spare his Firebending teacher the inevitable headache. She pitied whoever ended up getting stuck with that task.

Despite his failures and the fact that he was meant to be the great weapon against Fire Nation superiority, Toph was a far more patient teacher than Zuko’s Firebending instructors back at the palace. She shoved him to demonstrate poor stances and was blunt in her criticisms, but there was no malice there, and she didn’t once threaten to beat him or do whatever was the Earth equivalent of putting small burns on a student’s arms as an incentive.

Katara joined them after a little while, and Zuko looked up hopefully. She smiled and informed her that she’d finished Uncle’s healing as much as she could, and that he’d still be weak and achy and should definitely take things easy for a while.

Then she turned to observe the disastrous lesson.

Weirdly, she thought Toph was being way too hard on Aang.

This seemed to inspire Toph to try other things, though with varying degrees of success on Aang’s part. Zuko found herself applauding the techniques on display while thinking desperately of ways to counter them. (Running away as soon as she saw Toph coming was option one.)

This all culminated with Aang nearly getting crushed by a boulder, just jumping out of the way in the nick of time, much to Zuko’s relief.

Wait, she shouldn’t be relieved! She should have been hoping the Avatar was crushed into paste. She could even scrape up what was left of him and present it to Father and hopefully regain her honour.

It must be disappointment she was feeling. Yeah, that was it.

Aang stormed off with Katara to practice Waterbending instead, leaving Toph alone (Sokka had disappeared at some point), and Zuko was about to suggest some kind of sparring session, testing their bending abilities against each other.

Then Uncle walked out from the trees and approached him, smiling warmly, though walking a little stiffly, and Zuko jumped up and threw herself at him, relieved, only just remembering in time and giving a more relaxed embrace than she’d intended.

“Uncle, you’re alright.”

“All thanks to your new friends, Niece.”

“They’re not my friends, Uncle,” she snapped.

They sat for a few moments, watching Toph make extensive rearrangements of the scenery, until Zuko finally broached the subject she’d been pondering since the encounter with her sister.

“Uncle, I’ve been thinking. It’s only a matter of time before I run into Azula again. I’m going to need to know more advanced Firebending if I want to stand a chance against her.” She sighed, remembering the constant admonishments from mother whenever he- _she’d_ objected to Azula’s ‘games’. “I know what you’re going to say: She’s my sister and I should be trying to get along with her.”

To her relief, Uncle shook his head. “No, she’s crazy and she needs to go down.” He stood up, wincing a little. “It’s time to resume your training.”

Zuko leapt to her feet, excited. “What are you going to teach me, Uncle?”

“I think it’s time you learned about bending lightning, Niece.”

 _Lightning_. If she could master that, nobody could sneer that she was a weak Firebender!

⁂

Of course, this was Uncle, so the promised Lightningbending had to wait until after a pot of tea. Though to be fair to Uncle, he hadn’t had any tea for several hours at least, and she was amazed he was able to function without it.

Refusing to let him make it himself (it was poor manners to have an injured person make and serve tea), she obeyed his instructions and he seemed satisfied.

(She told him about the cooking lesson she’d received, and promised to make him something; she was pretty sure she’d imagined the flash of terror that crossed his face.)

And it became clear there was a reason behind this tea break, as Uncle explained the philosophy behind bending lightning.

Calming tea made sense.

(Zuko wasn’t even sure how to process the idea of Firebending not fuelled by rage. At least precision was something she could do – she’d always used that to compensate for the lack of raw strength her instructors complained she’d had, and she’d used more precise and focused darts of flame in target practice while trying to cope with her suddenly-poor depth perception by imitating Mai’s knife throwing.)

Toph was still attacking poor unfortunate rocks when they returned to the open rocky area that served as their practice spot, but at least her attacks were (slightly) quieter and more focused now, and she’d moved to a different part of the area, so hopefully they were less likely to get hit by stray stones. Or fry her with lightning.

“There is energy all around us,” Uncle began. “The energy is both yin and yang; positive energy and negative energy.”

He held up one finger on each hand, as if Zuko was a child who needed a visual representation of the number two. She restrained herself from complaining though; she was far too used to this.

He continued, “Only a select few Firebenders can separate these energies. This creates an imbalance. The energy wants to restore balance and in a moment the positive and negative energy come crashing back together-” he brought his hands together. “-you provide release and guidance, creating lightning.”

That sounded straightforward enough, though it probably wouldn’t be that simple.

Uncle motioned for her to step back and she did, watching as he moved his arms in circular motions before bringing his hands together, then lunging forward and firing a bolt of lightning from his right hand.

The display of such raw power was thrilling, and she was desperate to try it for herself.

“I’m ready to try it!”

“Remember, once you separate the energy, you do not command it. You are simply its humble guide. Breathe first,” Uncle cautioned her, reminding her of the requirement for calmness and peace of mind.

She closed her eyes, breathing in and striving for a state of calm.

Then she mimicked his stance and movements. She was sure she was copying his motions accurately, but no lighting trailed her fingers. She kept going regardless, thrusting her hand forward with a shout, but all that happened was shooting out a burst of flame that pushed her backwards.

Uncle shook his head in disappointment, and even after a few years of being trained by him, she still had to push down the flash of fear that came from seeing disappointment on the face of an instructor.

Oh, and Toph had come over to watch her humiliation. Great. At least she looked more neutral than disappointed, with a hint of obvious curiosity at getting to observe some Firebending while not risking death in the process.

Okay. Not a big deal. It was only her first attempt. Even Azula rarely managed to get something 100% right on the first go.

True, she’d never completely failed and fallen over either, but _still_.

She tried again, with the same result.

Growling, she kicked a pebble. “Why isn’t it working?”

Uncle sighed. “My dear niece, remember, you must calm yourself. You are too used to focusing on rage to fuel your Firebending. You must learn that there are other, better ways. And for all the power of lightning, the focus it requires is almost counter-intuitive to what you’ve been taught.”

He looked as if he was about to say something more about the teaching she’d received, but bit his tongue.

 _Calm_ , she reminded herself once more. _Focus_.

She… wasn’t good at calm though. She managed it in meditation, but that was different. There it was a lack of movement, where she was sitting quietly and still, focusing on her breaths and pushing all else away apart from an awareness of the flame in front of her. Here she needed to be aware of her surroundings, herself, and her movements. She needed to focus on the energy she was trying to pull on and wield.

She’d never known a feeling of calm…

Except she had. Once.

In the pool at the North Pole.

Breathing deeply, she sought the memory of that feeling. Floating in nothingness immediately after her transformation, how everything seemed to be the same, how she seemed to be the same person, but the way things felt so different, revelling in the rightness of her body for the first time. The sensation of floating there, perfectly calm. Almost content.

Holding onto that, she resumed her position, moving her arms again, and this time felt energy flowing through her. It was exhilarating, and a little terrifying. It seemed too much to control, but she refused to panic; _she could do this_. Completing the motion, she opened her eyes at last and thrust her arm out, directing the lightning at the cliffside, taking a chunk out of it and leaving a rather large scorch mark next to the damage already caused by a frustrated Earthbender.

“Well done, Princess Zuko!” beamed Uncle.

“Way to go, Sparky!” Toph cheered.

Unfortunately, repeating her success proved to be trickier than she’d expected. The next attempt simply let out a burst of flame as before. So did the attempt after that. The next few times she managed lightning, but it was awkward and uncontrolled and just exploded before she could properly direct it.

The more she tried, the more frustrated she got, the harder it became. But she’d been so _close_.

Wonderfully, the Avatar and Katara arrived back from their Waterbending session right as she was preparing to try again, probably wondering what all the explosions and shouting was all about. Because more of an audience for her failures was just what she needed.

(She ignored the fact that she’d gotten to witness the Avatar’s disastrous attempts at Earthbending so it was only fair. Fuck being _fair_.)

“What’s going on?” he asked, then spotted the fresh damage to the cliff. “Woah, Toph, did you do that?”

“Most of it. But that one there is pure Sparky. She can do lightning now! Cool, huh?”

Katara gave a nervous laugh and threw the scorched rocks an uncertain look. “Uh, yeah! Cool…”

Toph’s blithe confidence (saying that Zuko could bend lightning seemed a stretch to her, but Toph treated it as if she had mastered it) and knowing that her abilities made Katara nervous combined to push her to focus harder on her next attempt.

Also she was determined not to fuck up in front of the Avatar.

Again, she focused on the memory of floating, weightless and reborn.

Again, she felt the energy flowing, and managed to direct it.

Another scorch mark.

Not quite as good as before, she felt, but she’d take what she could get, and nobody seemed disappointed. Uncle called out his congratulations from where he’d seated himself to observe. Toph cheered. Aang whooped and whirled around, looking oddly enthused about Zuko wielding a technique she could use to kill him. Katara clapped, awkwardly and with an expression suggesting she wasn’t sure she _should_ be clapping.

Again, though, subsequent attempts were a disaster.

“I think I saw sparks there?” Aang said, trying to be supportive.

“Don’t patronise me!” she snapped.

Taking a deep breath, reaching for the mirage that was her inner calm, ready to make another attempt, refusing to be beaten, moving her arms. She tried, she really did, but it was so hard to concentrate on that feeling when so many other things kept trying to compete and get in the way. Each attempt seemed to fail more spectacularly than the last.

(Deep down, she knew on some level that she wasn’t really trying. Not properly. But if she kept pushing, it had to work. It _had_ to.)

Was she really going to have to focus this deeply every time? That wouldn’t be much use in a battle situation. And she couldn’t think of any other situation she might need to wield lightning in.

Again, again, she ended up only knocking herself back flying.

“Argh!” she snarled, not even bothering to get up from the ground this time. “Why can’t I do it? It just keeps exploding in my face! Like everything always does!”

She clambered back to her feet as Uncle stood up and approached her, sighing. “I was afraid this might happen. You will not be able to master lightning until you have dealt with the turmoil inside you.”

“What turmoil?!”

“You wanna shout that any louder, Sparky? I don’t think they heard you properly in Omashu.”

She glared at Toph. Which of course had no effect whatsoever.

Iroh only stared at her, seriously. “Zuko, you must let go of your feelings of shame if you want your anger to go away.”

She did _not_ want to have this sort of conversation in front of an audience. Especially not _this_ audience.

“But I don’t feel any shame at all!” She didn’t. She _didn’t_. “I’m as proud as ever!”

This got her another sigh. Of course. “Princess Zuko, pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.”

The Avatar nodded enthusiastically (not that he seemed to be able to do anything any other way – except for Earthbending). “Yes! The monks always told me that only with humility can we truly understand what we can do to make the world a better place.”

“Very wise, young Avatar.”

Toph waved a hand dismissively. “Whatever. I’m not ashamed of anything and I’m definitely not humble.”

Katara scoffed.

Zuko did her best to ignore them all. “Well… My life has been nothing _but_ humbling lately.”

Starving, stealing, begging, sleeping in barns, pleading for work, just trying to survive.

Uncle seemed to think for a minute. “Hmm. I have another idea. I will teach you a Firebending move that even Azula doesn’t know, because I made it up myself.”

Zuko perked up at this idea.

 _That_. Sounded _amazing_.

⁂

Of course, before she actually learned anything useful, she had to sit through a lecture first. Still, after several hours of falling over a lot, it was nice to sit down and let him talk for a while.

Aang, Katara and Toph sat with her, and she wanted to tell them to mind their own business, but Uncle would only tell her to be nice. And it wasn’t as if two of those people would be able to use the technique anyway.

Iroh began drawing in the dirt with a long stick, sketching out the familiar symbol of the Fire Nation.

“Fire is the element of power,” he began. “The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want.”

Zuko didn’t quite catch what Katara muttered under her breath, but she got the gist.

Next, the symbol for Earth. “Earth is the element of substance. The people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse and strong. They are persistent and enduring.”

“Damn right!” Toph stomped in agreement, sending a bunch of rocks flying (though leaving Uncle’s artistic endeavours undisturbed).

He drew the trio of swirls, now seen only in historical scrolls and carved into the walls of the Air Temples Zuko had visited on her mission to return home.

“The Air Nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom. Also they apparently had a pretty good sense of humour!”

Aang grinned. “That’s right! I remember Monk Gyatso-” He cut himself off, smile dying away like a candle that had been snuffed out. Katara put a hand on his shoulder, a gesture of support.

Iroh wisely moved on, marking the elaborate swirling design of the Water Tribe. “Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribe are capable of adapting to many things. They have a deep sense of community and love that holds them together through anything.”

Katara nodded, touching her necklace and looking as if she was about to cry.

It was great that everyone was being told things they already knew about their people, but Zuko couldn’t understand what the point of this was.

“Why are you telling me these things?”

This got her a stern look (by Uncle’s standards anyway). “It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If we take from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale.” He drew lines separating the elemental symbols, illustrating his point. “Understanding others, the other elements, and the other nations will help you become whole.”

He circled the whole thing, as if Zuko couldn’t get the point from words alone.

This sounded too close to Avatar stuff, and Zuko said so.

“It is the combination of the four elements that makes the Avatar so powerful.” He tapped Aang on the shoulder with his stick. “But it can make you more powerful too.” Zuko got prodded in the chest as if she’d forgotten who she was. “You see, the technique I am about to teach you is one I learned by studying the Waterbenders.”

Aang looked annoyed at that, pointing at Iroh as he glared at Toph. “See? I could have used Airbending to figure out Earthbending!”

She was as unmoving as her element. “Nope, Twinkletoes. Not. The. Same. Sparky here already knows Firebending – she’s just finding a new way to look at things. You’re trying to get out of learning or doing the work.”

“Master Toph is right, young Avatar. You should be well-versed in a technique before playing around with its rules or mixing in other disciplines.”

The Avatar, supposedly the World’s Great Hope For Peace (excepting the Fire Nation, which had its own ideas on what that meant), pouted, leaping to his feet and storming off.

“Aang, where are you going?” asked Katara, obviously not happy about this conflict.

“I’m going to find Sokka! I bet he won’t tell me I’m doing everything wrong!”

Katara sighed, opening her mouth to send good wishes or something, before she frowned, looking up at the position of the sun. “He… has been gone for a while. I’d better go look too.”

Zuko assumed Toph was going to stay; she remained still as Iroh got to his feet and motioned for Zuko to follow him as he took position a little way away.

Then she grinned. “Ooh! Snoozles is in a spot of bother! This I ain’t gonna miss! You can demonstrate your super awesome technique to me later, Sparky.”

She strode off, cackling.

⁂

“Hey Sparky, what kind of awesome new move did you learn?” Toph called out as she stomped towards the fire where Katara was preparing dinner, Uncle following more sedately.

“This,” she said, demonstrating the move that Uncle had taught her.

Toph frowned and tilted her head to one side. “Okay, maybe it’s really visually impressive, but all I can sense is you wiggling your arms and turning?”

Zuko slumped down beside the Earthbender. “Nope, that’s basically it. Supposedly it redirects lightning.”

“Only supposedly?”

“Uncle won’t shoot lightning at me to test I’ve got it right! Says it’s too dangerous.” She shot a glare at her uncle, who was pulling tea things out of his pack and pointedly ignoring his niece. So what if it _was_ dangerous? It’s not like that had ever stopped her instructors before.

“Ugh, spoilsport.”

“I know, right?”

Not wanting to get dragged into conversation with these people, Zuko grabbed her swords and began sharpening them, hoping that would put anyone off talking to her.

No such luck.

“So where’d you get the swords from anyway?” Sokka asked suspiciously. “I don’t remember you having them before.”

Aang opened his mouth, probably to tell everyone that she was the Blue Spirit, so she hastened to give an answer before the kid blabbed to Uncle.

“Some guy was propositioning me, so I lured him into an alleyway.”

“You slept with a guy for a pair of swords?!” Katara looked scandalised.

“What? Why would you think- No! I beat the fuck out of him and stole all his shit.”

Sokka gasped and put his hands over Aang’s ears.

Toph grinned and punched Zuko in the arm. “Oh, you and me, Sparky, we’re gonna be best friends.”

“Aren’t you a prince?” asked Sokka. She glared. “Or, y’know, whatever. How do you even _know_ words like that?”

Zuko rolled her eyes. “I spent three years on a ship surrounded by sailors. Those aren’t even the worst words I know.”

Toph’s whole face seemed to light up. “Never mind best friends. I now declare us to be sisters and I demand you tell me _all_ these words.”

“Toph, no!”

“Niece, don’t you even think about it!”

Sokka kept his hands over Aang’s ears for a good few minutes more, just to be safe.

⁂

“Okay, what’s going on with these two?” Sokka demanded as they ate, interrupting yet another of Uncle’s attempts to foist some of his food into her bowl, claiming she ‘looked far too thin’ even though he was the one who was hurt and should be eating properly.

He gestured frantically at Zuko and Iroh, as if there was any doubt about who he was referring to.

Zuko was about to snap that they’d be moving on immediately…

(Actually, she should be capturing the Avatar right this instant, while he was stuffing rice into his face and his guard was down, but it seemed… dishonourable. Walking away and giving them a head start before pursuing was the sporting thing to do.)

Uncle placed a hand on her arm to forestall any movement. “I must beg of you all leave to stay. For an old man like myself, I fear it will take a while for me to recover from that vicious attack.”

His voice had a slight quaver that Zuko was unused to hearing, and fear gripped her.

Katara frowned while her brother scoffed in derision. “I’ve healed all the damage. So long as you take things easy for a while, you should be fine…”

She trailed off, eyeing her patient with concern. As she should, Zuko thought. Uncle looked so _frail_ …

What if he died? And it would be all Zuko’s fault, because _she_ had distracted him in the first place, leaving him open to Azula’s attack, and _she_ was the one who was insistent about dragging him away from a healer.

“But having you stick close for a few days is probably a good idea. That lightning caused a shock to your system, and I can’t be sure there won’t be any lingering effects.”

“Oh, come on! They’re the enemy!”

“But Sokka, he got hurt while helping us!” Aang’s- That is, _the Avatar’s_ true power clearly lay in his persuasiveness, and after a few seconds of being faced with a pair of large pleading eyes, Sokka conceded with a muttered, “Ugh, fine! But I’ll be watching them!”

Toph said nothing, simply looking between Uncle and Katara and Zuko with a look of concentration.

(Although looking was perhaps not the right word.)

Zuko sighed. “Very well, Uncle. But _only_ until you’re well again.”

She could hold off on her mission to capture the Avatar for a few more days, for Uncle’s sake.

⁂

Sokka sat down next to Aang, who was staring at Zuko and Toph as they huddled together by the fire (which Zuko was playing with like it was a toy and not _highly dangerous_ ).

“Is it wrong that I’m more scared of those two than I am facing the Firelord?”

He opened his mouth to tell his friend how ridiculous that was…

A snippet of conversation drifted to them on the evening breeze. “So how hot can you get your fire? Because I’m wondering if we can combine Firebending and Earthbending to make actual lava?”

What came out of Sokka’s mouth was a small whimper.

**Author's Note:**

> \- HEY GUYS! I finally decided to get a new tumblr, after my old one got nuked. You can find me at [Maiqueen](https://maiqueen.tumblr.com/)
> 
> \- I am also on Fanexus. Think if Livejournal, Tumblr, & Ao3 got thrown in a blender. I can't share a link to that one because it's in closed beta. If you're also one of the lucky few to gain admittance, then you can find me camped out in the ATLA & Devil May Cry tags. You can find out more about the platform [here](https://twitter.com/fanexus) (there's a link in the pinned thread to join the Discord & be first in line for beta invites). Otherwise I guess you just have to be patient. But as soon as it opens up to more people I'll be able to share it. :D


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